Patient privacy under threat if DNA database goes ahead

Building a vast DNA database within the NHS would end privacy and trust between doctors and patients (DNA maps for all? Not so far off, or as costly, as you thought, 5 December). Every individual and their relatives could be identified and tracked by matching their DNA to their genome stored in their healthcare records. All private healthcare information would be identifiable. Screening every healthy person for every genetic variant makes no sense because genes are poor predictors of most diseases in most people and genetic disorders are rare. The scientists quoted in your article know this. So why does Professor Sir John Bell keep pushing for huge amounts of public money to be wasted by building such a database? This data could be used for a massive marketing scam. Private healthcare companies and intermediaries such as Google want everybody to become a patient, treated for supposedly risky genes before they become ill. This means fat profits for companies selling sequencing and IT services and a massive expansion in the drug market. But no benefit to health.Helen WallaceDirector, GeneWatch UK